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32ARIADNE.their cuirasses of steel, and going out along thelong stone passages into the daylight like adrunken man.Had itbeen but a little earlier, only a littleearlier!Had it come only just ere the earth hadhad time to bear and blossom and be reapedforharvests these three short summers!What was the shield of Athene beside what theshield of gold would have been ?What power had love or the arts to shelter,compared with what the mere force of wealthwould havehad ?Icursed the dead manin his graveBrutalitmight be, butIwras so: — brutal asonemay be whoin savage wars sees the daughterof hisheart and hearth dishonoured and lyinglifeless, with a sword thrust in her breast, whenso little could have saved her— just a moment —just a word!Iwent down out of the Vatican into the noblesunlit square, where in a high west wind thefountains were tossing like waves of the sea allfoam, and blown aloft in a storm; and the blackshadow of the mighty obelisk was travelling